President’s Perspective: Purpose

Oct 8, 2019

Anyone who knows me well knows I’m a Simon Sinek fan. I believe he’s one of the foremost thought leaders of our time, and he has a way of articulating ideas and perspectives on many topics – including leadership – that provoke a lot of thought.

Here is one of his statements that I read recently: “We must find a purpose or cause to pursue, otherwise we have left our imperfections to focus on.” Boom! These are very powerful words that apply to many situations in life.

At your company, what is your “why”? What is your purpose? What is the goal? What has meaning that you make a priority or an area of focus? Without clarity here, it is easy to be consumed by thinking of your flaws, shortcomings, and matters of the day without looking forward. I can let it occupy my time, too, as anyone who knows me well knows that I am not perfect.

This is certainly true during working years, but it’s also commonplace during retirement years. In our company and in our industry, we have many people retiring. If they have any anxiety at all about retirement, it is likely around finding a purpose or cause to pursue after they leave the office or take off the tool belt for good. There are only so many rounds of golf to enjoy before the focus on one’s imperfections begins to creep in.

In some ways it’s like riding a bicycle. If you are going forward and have some momentum, you can remain upright and in pursuit of the destination. If you stop or take your eyes off of the destination, you risk falling at a minimum and crashing and burning at maximum. Stay in pursuit!

At Story, we have an answer to a purpose or cause to pursue. Tune in next issue to learn what it is.

Mike Espeset